The Story of Smartplan: Making Ideas Happen

27.08.2015

As some of you might know, Smartplan was founded two years ago by three entrepreneurs from Aarhus in Denmark: Peter Møller and the two brothers Mathias and Mikkel Aggerbo. But did you know that Smartplan employee scheduling software was created in only 16 weeks? Or that the team behind it developed everything themselves?

Mission 16 Weeks

On a winter day in early 2013, the three founders of Smartplan decided that they wanted to create a software system that would free people from Excel and paper sheets when scheduling shifts for their employees. They saw a need to a create a more simple and manageable system than many of their competitors offered, where it would be easy and timesaving to perform the often tiresome and frustrating task of employee scheduling. They decided to create a system for the small and flexible businesses, allowing employees to swap shifts and wish for time off before creating the next schedule. At the same time, it had to be ‘smart’ and be able to assist the planner as much as possible. The founders named this project “Mission 16 Weeks” and took on the challenge it was to get the system ready in such short time.

Week 2 of “Mission 16 Weeks”

Nothing Worth Having Comes Easy

They worked hard every day to find out exactly which industries and businesses to address and how as well as what their customers’ needs and wants were. They explored the possibility of getting someone to test the system and worked on what features to include, what the logo, design and graphics should look like and – of course – coding and developing. Despite the many challenges, tasks and aspects to consider, they always stayed focused on their main guiding principle: transparency. Transparency in relation to both their product and its functions and to their whole business model including services and prices.

A Constant Development

After months of developing and working hard to meet the deadline, Smartplan was launched on 3 June 2013. Since its tentative beginnings, Smartplan has advanced and expanded and new functions have been added. The system has been translated into English and we are working hard to understand and reach our UK customers the best way possible. We are also making progress in our home market, where more and more businesses find simple and easy scheduling software systems beneficial. The latest addition to our team are three communication interns, who are here because we love to communicate with and create something of value to you. That’s what Smartplan is all about and that’s what we keep working on for you.